Ammunition hoisting and loading apparatus for ordnance



; 1,402,402 Patented Jan. 3,192;

A. T. DAWSON AND J. HORNE.

AMMUNITION HOISTI'NG AND LOADlNG APPARATUS FOR OHDNANCE APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4. 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. T. DAWSON AND J. HORNE. AMMUNITION HOISTING-AND LOADING APPARAT US FDR ORDNANCE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 4, 1920- ,402,402 Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

6142i, AMV IBM, J I 6M ARTHUR TREVOR DAIVSON, O1 'W'ESTIVIINSTER, LONDON, AND JAMES HORNE, OF

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO VICKERS LIIVIITED, OF WEST- MINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND.

AIEIVIUNITION I-IOISTING AND LOI LDHVG APPiLRATUS FOR ORDINANCE.

1 q)2,@2" Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 3, 1922.

Application filed September 4, 1920. Serial No. 403,326.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Sin Anrrrnn Trnvon Dawson, Bart, and JAMES HORNE, both suh jects of the King of Great Britain, residing, respectively, at Vickers House, Broadway, IVestminster, in the county of London, England, and Naval Construction IVorks, Bar- ,ljoiwin-Furness, in the county of Lancaster,

England, have invented certain new and us ful Improvements in or Relating to Ammunition Hoisting and Loading Apparatus for Ordnance, (for which we have filed an application in Great Britain, No. 21,099, dated August 27, 1919,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ammunition hoisting and loading apparatus for ordnance and is particularly applicable to such apparatus described in the specification of our BritishPatent 3A98 of 1907, in which the magazine is arranged below the level of the shell room and the outer charges are raised in a lifting cage to a. position opposite the shell room from which position they are.

transferred to a second lifting or gun loading cage which also receives a projectile from the shell room.

According to the present invention the projectile is delivered to a tray or compart ment in the upper part of the gun. loading or hoist cage (which may be the second lifting cage referred to above) and the powder charges are delivered to a tray or compartment in the lower part of the said cage, in which relative position the projectile and the charges are raised to the gun platform. The projectile and the charges may be trans" ferred rearwards, still in the same relative position, to a container arranged contiguous to the gun, this container being then, by suitable power operated means, caused to move in such a manner as to bring the pro jectile tray or compartment of the container to the correct position in line with the bore of the gun for loading, the relative position of the projectile and the charges being altered during this movement so that the charges then occupy the ordinary position above the level of the projectile. After the projectile has been rammed into the gun the charges are allowed to roll or fall down into the projectile tray or compartment for ramming by a single stroke of the rammer.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, we will now describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. in which 2+- Figure .L is a rear elevation showing more or less diagrammatically a form of the invention employed in conjunction with the arrangement described in the specification of our aforesaid British Patent 3,498 of 1907, the aforesaid container being omitted from this figure.

Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a sec tional side elevation and a sectional rear elevation of a gun turret showing more or less diagrammatically the aforesaid c0ntainers which are illustrated by way of example in their application to the supplying of ammunition to the two outer guns of a three gun turret and,

Figures 4 and 5 are views, drawn to a larger scale, of one of the containers and the means for operating it shown by Figures 2 and 3.

A is the turret, A is the gun platform, A is the rotary ammunition trunk and A is the gun loading or hoist cage in which the projectile tray or compartment (1 is sit uated above the powder charge tray or compartm'ont a as aforesaid. In the example shown the magazine A is arranged below the level of the shell room A as shown in Figure 1; the powder charges are conveyed by a hoist cage A from the magazineto the tray (4 of the cage A and the projectiles are conveyed by a trolley A from the bogie A to the tray (6 of the cage. B (Figures 2 to 5) represents the aforesaid container which is mounted to rock about the axis of a shaft B carried by b 'ackets on the gun platform A. s as to be capable of assumin either the receiving position behind the cage A or the loading position behind the guns as required, the projectile and the powder charges being transferred from the cage to the container and from the container to the gun by separate sets of rammers which are not shown. The shaft B is disposed at an angle to the horizontal corresponding to the fixed loading angle of the gun; in the example shown the container is connected to the shaft B and the latter is angularly displaced by a rack B which is operated by a press B and meshes with a toothed segment 13 connected to the said tile tray or compartment of the container in one length and are rammed by a single stroke of the rammer.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In ammunition hoisting and loading apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the gun platform and a hoist cage having two receptacles one above the other for the shell and the powder charges, of means for delivering powder charges to the lower receptacle, means for delivering a shell to the upper receptacle in which relative position the shell and the powder charges are lifted by the cage to a position above the gun platform, a container, means for transferring the shell and the powder charges from said cage to said container with the powder charges still below the shell, and means for moving said container to a loading position behind the gun, the container being turned during such movement about a substantially horizontal axis so that the projectile is situated below the level of the powder charges.

2. In ammunition hoisting and loading apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the gun platform and a hoist cage having two receptacles one above the other for the shell and the powder charges, of means for delivering powder charges to the lower receptacle, means for delivering a shell to the upper receptacle, in which relative position the shell and the powder charges are lifted by the cage to a position above the gun platform, a container, means for transferring the shell and the powder charges from said cage to said container, with the powder charges still below the shell and means for pivoting said container to the gun platform about an inclined axis so as to bring the shell from a horizontal position'to an inclined loading position corresponding to the loading angle of the gun and with the shell below the level of the powder charges. 3. In ammunition hoisting and loading apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the gun platform and a hoist cage having two receptacles one above the other for the shell and the powder charges, of means for delivering powder charges to the powder receptacle, means for delivering a shell to the upper receptacle, in which relative position the shell and the powder charges are lifted by the cage to a position above the gun platform, a container, means for transferring the shell and the powder charges rearwardly from said cage to said container with the powder charges still below the shell and means for pivoting said container to the gun platform about an inclined axis so as to bring the shell from a horizontal position to an inclined loading position corresponding to the loading angle of the gun and with the shell below the level of the powder charges. 4:. In ammunition loading apparatus for ordnance, the combination with an ammunition container having a shell receptacle and a powder charge receptacle, the latter receptacle being situated below the level of'the shell receptacle when the container is in the charging position, and means for moving said container about a substantially horizontal axi from'said charging position into a loading position behind the gun with the shell receptacle situated below the level of the powder charge receptacle.

5. In ammunition loading apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the gun platform, of an ammunition container having a shell receptacle and a powder charge receptacle, the latter receptacle being situated below the level of the shell receptacle when the container is in the receiving position, and means for pivoting said containerto the run platform about an inclined axis so as to bring the shell from a horizontal position to an inclined loading position corresponding to the loading angle of the gun and with the shell below the level of the powder charges.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. J AMES HORNE.

Certificate of Correction.

It hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,402,402, granted January 3,

1922, upon the application of Arthur Trevor Dawson, of Westminster, London, and

James Horne, of Barrow-in-Furness, England, for an improvement in Ammunition Hoisting and Loading Apparatus for Ordnance, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 22, for the word outer read powder; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of March, AT D., 1922.

[SEAL] KARL FENNING,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Certificate of Correction.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent N 0. 1,402,402, granted'January 3, 1922, upon the application of Arthur Trevor Dawson, of Westminster, London, and James Horne, of Barrow-in-Furness, England, for an improvement in Ammunition Hoisting and Loading Apparatus for Ordnance, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line 22, for the Word outer read powder; and that the said Letters Patent should be read With this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of March, A D., 1922.

[SEAL] xi KARL FENNING,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

